Bathtime
by SandmanCircus
Summary: Free returns filthy and bloodied from his travels to pay Eruka Frog a special visit. FreeEruka. One-shot.


For her birthday, howlingmoonrise requested a fluffy/lime-ish Free/Eruka fanfic, which is totes up my alley (although on the smut scale of citrus fruits, I'd say it's closer to the orange mark).

Here you go!

(don't talk to me about the title)

* * *

 **Bathtime**

The man in front of her-for it _must_ have been a man, though she'd rarely seen one so large-stood still as she scrutinized him. He was dirty, coated with the kind of filth that only grew after soap was not but a distant memory. Or, she added mentally, noticing the blood a second too late, after a long bloody, battle.

Eruka dug her fingernails into the soft wood of her front door as her eyes lifted back to his. She swallowed. "Can I help you?" Surely not, surely this was a mistake, and he'd just knocked on her door because he'd lost his way and needed directions to the hospital...or the morgue.

Then, to her surprise and ever increasing concern, the man grinned down at her. His pointed teeth were a startling white against the dirt and blood that masked his face, but even beneath the grime, the joy of his expression was unmistakable. Startled, Eruka took an involuntary step back into her home.

"Eruka, it's me!"

The sound of his voice halted her. Recognition struck a moment later. "Free!?" she shrieked, finally swinging the door open fully. She stepped towards him, reaching up to cup his face. With her thumb she pushed away the mud from his brow, revealing his name in dark ink.

Her eyes met his in astonishment. "What on earth are you doing here? I haven't seen you in nearly a year."

Not to say she hadn't heard from him. It seemed he was always sending her cards and little notes in the mail about his travels around the world. Sometimes when she wouldn't receive one for awhile, she'd get worried that he'd ended up in a jail somewhere-but then another letter would arrive, with his enthusiasm somehow infused in every word, and she would breathe easy again.

He shrugged his massive shoulders, still grinning down at her. "I was in the neighbourhood."

Eruka smiled, but then noticed the mess now on her hands and immediately regretted touching him. Letting go, she surreptitiously wiped her mud coated hands against the side of her house. "Well it's nice to see you," she said. "No! Don't touch me! No hugs until you've been hosed off. Why are you so filthy, anyway?"

Though he lowered his arms, somewhat dejectedly, the smile on his face was still bright. "Got into a bit of trouble earlier. Actually, I've lost a substantial amount of blood-I may pass out at any second."

Eruka quickly looked up from where she'd been scowling at her hands. "You're not serious _…_ "

Before he could reply, his eyes rolled up in his head and his giant body came falling towards her. Eruka barely had time to produce a harassed squawk before she was knocked over by his weight. They landed with his face pressed against the soft part of her belly and had she not been positive he was completely knocked out, she may have clubbed him for getting her dress dirty.

"Thiswas why," she groaned, pulling herself out from under him and collapsing in a breathless heap, "I said no hugs." Grunting, she sat upright, his top half still more or less sprawled over her legs.

Sighing, she patted his back gingerly. "Nice to see you too, big guy."

...

With the help of a rather disgruntled Jackson, Eruka managed to heave her large burden into the empty bath tub. After that, she had Jackson fetch her pails of water from the nearby creek while she searched her small home for medical supplies.

When the last pail had returned and a small pile of bandages and creams lay ready on a nearby table, Eruka stepped back to admire their efforts-and paused. "Oh! His clothes… Jackson could you-Jackson?" But her familiar was already long gone, leaving nothing but a fading plume of smoke. Eruka glared at the spot where he should have been before resolutely turning back to Free, fists clenched. " _Fine_ , I'll do it myself."

After a second of hesitation, Eruka stepped towards the tub. Her fingers brushed the skin on his stomach, still coated with whatever he'd rolled himself in, and she pulled a face. "You'd better be _really_ nice to me when you wake up," she grumbled, glaring pointedly at the unconscious man. "I want at least a pound of deadly nightshade for this. The good stuff."

Feeling around a bit more in the mud on his stomach, Eruka soon found the bottom of his shirt and proceeded to pull up on it with all her strength. It caught first between his back and the porcelain tub, then once more around the broad width of his shoulders. By the time she'd gotten it past his head, she was standing on the lip of the tub, one foot pressed against the middle of his shoulders as she struggled to free the fabric from his arms. "Next time," she grated through her teeth, her chest heaving, "I'm hosing you off outside!"

No sooner than she'd said this, Eruka went flying backwards with a yelp as the cloth came loose, landing in an ungraceful heap behind Free-who remained blissfully unaware of the chaos happening around him. In disgust, Eruka threw away the slimy shirt and pushed herself up, gasping for breath as she stared at the back of Free's head.

A moment passed. Then two.

"The pants stay on."

…...

Eventually, ten buckets of water and much scrubbing from a disgruntled Eruka later, Free was beginning to appear more like himself. She had rubbed his wound thoroughly, drained and filled the tub at least twice, and had managed to clean off all the mud and dried blood he'd been caked in. If Eruka wasn't so angry at having to do manual labour, she might have been proud of herself.

"You also now owe me a new bar of soap," Eruka absently informed her unconscious companion, running her nails through his freshly cleaned hair as she waved the rose scented soap in front of his face. "Look at it, it's ruined."

"Shall I buy you twenty more like it?" was Free's relaxed reply, his voice still hazy from sleep.

Eruka snorted and set down the soap, not surprised he'd woken. Her chin lowered to rest on his shoulder. She kissed the wet flesh of his neck. "With the money you don't have?"

"Money isn't all that hard to find."

She wrapped her arms around his water slickened shoulders, her clothing already so wet that it made little difference. Free reached up to hold one of her hands, his thumb gently stroking the pale skin of her knuckles. "Is that why you're always poor?" Eruka asked against the shell of his his ear.

"Never had anything I wanted to buy." He squeezed her hand. "Or anyone to buy it for."

For a brief moment, in which her heart felt overly large within her breast, Eruka hugged him tighter to her. She hoped he could feel all the emotions she couldn't express, all the words that ended up garbled in her throat whenever he came to visit her. Then she let him go, patting his chest and rising off her knees. "Finish your bath. Now that you're awake I'm sure you can handle it from here."

…

After he was dry and Eruka had bandaged his rapidly healing wounds, they settled down together in front of her small fireplace to catch up. Free had politely refused the offer of her old, patchwork comforter and instead sat shirtless beside her, the warm light gleaming on his chest. Eruka pretended not to notice as she listened to him talk.

"So...you snuck into a prison and allowed all the prisoners to escape, and I quote, 'because you could'?"

"Pretty clever, huh?"

"No, it was very, very stupid. You're an idiot. An absolute moron."

"But you love me." He'd said it with his usual grin on his lips, so large it transformed his face, no way of knowing the jolt his words sent through her heart. How could he?

"Yeah." When she didn't return his smile, merely watched him silently with eyes too big for her face, his expression sobered.

For a while they just stared at each other like that, silently taking the other in, gauging what the next step would be. Finally, Free's smile returned, and he extended an arm out to her. She wordlessly crawled over and he wrapped her up tightly in his embrace.

Free squeezed her till she couldn't breathe and pressed obnoxious kisses all over her face until she was breathless from laughing. He then cuddled her close as she collapsed against his chest, her face buried on his neck.

"Are you finally going to stay?" she asked, her words muffled by his skin.

"I could," he whispered in her ear, his tone teasing, smoothing his hand down her back.

Her nails raked his stomach in silent reprimand. "Will you?"

Free pulled back, grinning, only to swoop in and kiss her mouth. "Yes," he breathed, kissing her again and again. His rough, dry hands stroked up her leg as he laid her down on the fire warmed carpet, his body pressing down into her.

"We'll need a bigger house," Eruka said, grinning so large it hurt her cheeks. Her hands rose to cup his face, her thumbs brushing his cheekbones. "You'll be cramped in mine."

"It's not so bad," he leaned down to nose the line of her throat, dropping chaste kisses along her collarbone. "It smells like you." He squeezed her sides, releasing his claws just enough so she could feel them tickle her skin.

"Just so long as we get a bigger bed."

* * *

A/N: Hopefully it turned out okay, I'm still trying to get a feel for the characters. Again, Happy Birthday Howl, and bestest birthday wishes!


End file.
